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Canadians’ opinion of the United States falls to another record low

WASHINGTON—Canadians’ opinion of the United States fell this year to another record low, according to a major poll released Monday but conducted before the two countries reached a trade agreement on Sunday.

Just 39 per cent of Canadians polled in May and June had a favourable opinion of the U.S., Pew Research found in its annual survey of global opinion. Fifty-six per cent had an unfavourable opinion.

Just 25 per cent of Canadians said they had confidence in U.S. President Donald Trump to “do the right thing regarding world affairs” in a survey conducted by Pew Research. (Evan Vucci / AP)

The 2017 survey was the first in which Pew, which has been asking the question since 2002, found more than 50 per cent of Canadians with a negative view of their neighbour. Pollsters in previous decades had also never found a majority of Canadians unfavourably disposed toward the U.S.

Canada’s 26-point decline between 2016 and 2018 was the fourth-biggest Obama-to-Trump decline of the 25 countries Pew surveyed. Mexico had the biggest decline from the Obama era: 34 points, from 66 per cent to 32 per cent.

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The Canadian numbers might have changed in the three months since Pew completed its polling, or even since the trade agreement was announced, but they provide a useful indication of how Trump has harmed the reputation of his country.

Canadians’ confidence in Trump to “do the right thing regarding world affairs” actually ticked up slightly from last year, from 22 per cent up to to 25 per cent. But both numbers were massive drops from 2016, when 83 per cent had confidence in Obama to do the right thing.

Canadians’ confidence in Trump was exceeded by their confidence in German Chancellor Angela Merkel (68 per cent), French President Emmanuel Macron (64 per cent), and even Chinese President Xi Jinping (42 per cent). Russian President Vladimir Putin was tied with Trump at 25 per cent.

Canadian confidence in Trump varied by party. Forty-four per cent of Canadians who felt most closely aligned with the Conservatives had confidence in Trump. For supporters of the governing Liberals, it was just 10 per cent.

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Sixty-six per cent of Canadians said relations with the U.S. had worsened since 2017. Just four per cent said they had gotten better. Twenty-eight per cent said they had stayed the same.

Canadians were negative toward the U.S. on several specific questions. Just 38 per cent said the U.S. respects the personal freedoms of its people, down from 57 per cent in 2016.

Sixty-three per cent of Canadians said the U.S. was doing less to tackle major global problems than a few years ago, while just eight per cent said it was doing more. Eighty-two per cent said the U.S. does not take Canada’s interests into account much or at all in making international decisions.

Canadians’ overall level of confidence in Trump was right around the median for the 25 countries Pew surveyed: 27 per cent confidence in him, 70 per cent no confidence.

Confidence in Trump was highest in the Philippines (78 per cent), whose controversial president, Rodrigo Duterte, has been praised by Trump. Next highest was Israel (69 per cent), whose side Trump has vocally taken in its disputes with Iran and the Palestinians.

In several countries other than Canada, residents maintained a strongly positive view of the U.S. as a whole even, as they said they did not trust Trump to do the right thing. In Japan, for example, just 30 per cent they trusted Trump to to do the right thing, down from the 78 per cent who trusted Obama in 2016 — but 67 per cent of Japanese respondents had a favourable view of the U.S., down only slightly from 72 per cent in 2016.

Pew interviewed 1,056 Canadians. The Canadian results have a margin of error of 3.7 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Daniel Dale is the Star's Washington bureau chief. He covers U.S. politics and current affairs. Follow him on Twitter: @ddale8

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